A woman has sparked outrage in China after she allegedly refused to damage her expensive BMW to rescue her toddler trapped inside the hot car.

According to reports, the woman prevented firefighters from breaking the window of her luxury car in order to get her trapped three-year-old son out.

The incident occurred in the city of Yiwu in Zhejiang province on July 11, reported China's state broadcaster CCTV.

Hearing the cries of the helpless three-year-old inside the vehicle, large crowds gathered around the vehicle. However, they were surprised to find his mother standing outside the car.

According to a Chinese state television report, the boy was clawing at the car window but the mother stood next to the vehicle, waiting for a locksmith.

Even as the firefighters attempted to break the window, the mother insisted that they wait for the locksmith to unlock the car door as she did not want to damage the car.

When the boy's condition began to deteriorate, the firefighters ignored the mother and smashed the window to rescue the child.

"It is very dangerous to leave kids inside car, especially in such heat. The temperature inside the car can soar in very short time and threaten the child's life," Zhejiang Online quoted a firefighter as saying.

The mother has been facing social media outrage since the incident.

A mother refused firefighters to break into her BMW to save her 3yr old locked inside suffering in the heat. WTF is wrong with this world?

The incident follows a similar case in China just days before that ended in tragedy. A three-year-old girl in Shandong died after her nursery school principal left her in a boiling hot car for nine hours. Days before that, a four-year-old boy from Hunan died from heat exhaustion after his parents forgot him in the back of a car.